Senior earns chance to display work

One Drexel graphic design senior was named a winner of the 2011 Best of Art in the Air award in December, and as a result, his motion video, “Color Philadelphia,” will be displayed on the PECO Crown Lights at 23rd and Market streets until early March.

Peter Eyrich of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design created the award-winning video: a simple crayon line that draws various items, including a fire hydrant, a tree, a cheesesteak, a bicycle and the city’s skyline. At the end of the video the words “Color Philadelphia” are displayed.

“I was thinking of the best way in terms of motion design to capture Philadelphia, and I wanted to have something playful and capture some of the more iconic elements of Philadelphia,” Eyrich said.

William Rees, the assistant program director for graphic design in CoMAD, gave adjunct professor Don Haring the idea of incorporating Art in the Air into his Motions Graphic I course as an assignment for his students.

“We’re always trying to get in this realm for students to get the experience of ‘Here’s a tight deadline, here’s your size requirements, now do something.’ This is real-world experience,” Rees said.

“I encouraged the students to create a positive message that could potentially reach a lot of people. Also, the benefits and limitations of that giant screen had to be considered,” Haring said.

This created a challenge for the students, who had to take the structure of the building into consideration, as well as how the design would be viewed from the street.

“This is the first time that the students have ever worked in time-based design, and there’s a steep learning curve just using the software,” Haring said.

Haring went through each of his students’ designs and submitted most of them to the competition. There were three students from the class who were selected as winners for the month of December: Alexa Lareau, Herbie Hickmott and Eyrich.

“I was absolutely delighted to hear that Peter had received this recognition and that his work would be so prominently displayed on the PECO tower,” Westphal Dean Allen Sabinson said. “We know that our students are enormously talented and hardworking, but it’s always special to see their efforts’ success in regional, national and international competitions.”

“[‘Color Philadelphia’] is my own interpretation of putting your own creativity and inspiration into whatever it is that you do and do something great for the city,” Eyrich said.

Art in the Air is a competition hosted by Breadboard, a nonprofit organization that was started in 2009, focusingon art and technology. The competition allows anyone from the tri-state area to submit a graphic design that meets the guidelines.

“We conceptualized this program as a really good digital public art initiative that would engage people in new art forms and challenge people,” Dan Schimmel, the director of Breadboard, said.

This year was the first year that PECO decided to include a “Best of” category, and Eyrich was one of three winners to be awarded this honor.

Breadboard developed a partnership with PECO in 2009, which now sponsors the competition. The two companies pick a winner each month for a new video to be displayed on the PECO Crown Lights.

“We saw this as an opportunity to expand our support to highlight local artists’ work on a large scale,” Benjamin Armstrong, a representative for PECO, said.

The organization donates more than $1 million to support arts and culture in the Philadelphia region.

“We are proud to have the ability to provide a digital canvas for students to showcase their fantastic abilities as young artists,” Armstrong said.

One Drexel graphic design senior was named a winner of the 2011 Best of Art in the Air award in December, and as a result, his motion video, “Color Philadelphia,” will be displayed on the PECO Crown Lights at 23rd and Market streets until early March.

Peter Eyrich of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design created the award-winning video: a simple crayon line that draws various items, including a fire hydrant, a tree, a cheesesteak, a bicycle and the city’s skyline. At the end of the video the words “Color Philadelphia” are displayed.

“I was thinking of the best way in terms of motion design to capture Philadelphia, and I wanted to have something playful and capture some of the more iconic elements of Philadelphia,” Eyrich said.

William Rees, the assistant program director for graphic design in CoMAD, gave adjunct professor Don Haring the idea of incorporating Art in the Air into his Motions Graphic I course as an assignment for his students.

“We’re always trying to get in this realm for students to get the experience of ‘Here’s a tight deadline, here’s your size requirements, now do something.’ This is real-world experience,” Rees said.

“I encouraged the students to create a positive message that could potentially reach a lot of people. Also, the benefits and limitations of that giant screen had to be considered,” Haring said.

This created a challenge for the students, who had to take the structure of the building into consideration, as well as how the design would be viewed from the street.

“This is the first time that the students have ever worked in time-based design, and there’s a steep learning curve just using the software,” Haring said.

Haring went through each of his students’ designs and submitted most of them to the competition. There were three students from the class who were selected as winners for the month of December: Alexa Lareau, Herbie Hickmott and Eyrich.

“I was absolutely delighted to hear that Peter had received this recognition and that his work would be so prominently displayed on the PECO tower,” Westphal Dean Allen Sabinson said. “We know that our students are enormously talented and hardworking, but it’s always special to see their efforts’ success in regional, national and international competitions.”

“[‘Color Philadelphia’] is my own interpretation of putting your own creativity and inspiration into whatever it is that you do and do something great for the city,” Eyrich said.

Art in the Air is a competition hosted by Breadboard, a nonprofit organization that was started in 2009, focusingon art and technology. The competition allows anyone from the tri-state area to submit a graphic design that meets the guidelines.

“We conceptualized this program as a really good digital public art initiative that would engage people in new art forms and challenge people,” Dan Schimmel, the director of Breadboard, said.

This year was the first year that PECO decided to include a “Best of” category, and Eyrich was one of three winners to be awarded this honor.

Breadboard developed a partnership with PECO in 2009, which now sponsors the competition. The two companies pick a winner each month for a new video to be displayed on the PECO Crown Lights.

“We saw this as an opportunity to expand our support to highlight local artists’ work on a large scale,” Benjamin Armstrong, a representative for PECO, said.

The organization donates more than $1 million to support arts and culture in the Philadelphia region.

“We are proud to have the ability to provide a digital canvas for students to showcase their fantastic abilities as young artists,” Armstrong said.